DAILY- HOMILY

March 13, 2015 FRIDAY, 3rd Week of Lent

Violet

Hos 14:2-10 / Mk 12:28-34

Reading: Hos 14:2-10

     Return to your God Yahweh, O Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall. 

     Return to Yahweh with humble words. Say to him, "Oh you who show compassion to the fatherless forgive our debt, be appeased. Instead of bulls and sacrifices, accept the praise from our lips.

     Assyria will not save us: no longer shall we look for horses nor ever again shall we say 'Our gods' to the work of our hands."

     I will heal their wavering and love them with all my heart for my anger has turned from them.

     I shall be like dew to Israel like the lily will he blossom. Like a cedar he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar.

     They will dwell in my shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine.

     What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I who hear and make him prosper? I am like an ever-green cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from me.

     Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of Yahweh: the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.

Gospel: Mk 12:28-34

     A teacher of the Law had been listening to this discussion and admired how Jesus answered them. So he came up and asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

     Jesus answered, "The first is: Hear, Israel! The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes another one: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two."

     The teacher of the Law said to him, "Well spoken, Master; you are right when you say that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice."

     Jesus approved this answer and said, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Reflection:

   This Gospel reading gives us an insight into how to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact it gives us a taste of how it would be in the Kingdom of God. It would not be a place of rules and regulations, of laws and rituals, but rather one of love.

   And Jesus specifically reveals the secret of loving God - it is to love our neighbor! For that is what Christ has done with us. He has not burdened us with the yoke of offering sacrifices, but rather has carried us in our sins with his supreme sacrifice of his death on the cross. This has been the greatest act of love that he has done for us. And with this love flowing in us, we can also now love our neighbor - with all our heart, understanding and strength. This can be fulfilled only with the Holy Spirit. And this is the real secret of happiness - to be able to love as God loves.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     MS. ERNESTINE G. LIM

     NIXON TROY D. VILLANUEVA

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     FERON YANG LON

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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